Is Russia going to accept ships for 2022 Summer

[milolii]

Ah, I think I understand. These cruises seem to be part of Princess' 11-day RTs out of Copenhagen, giving folks in Russia and others the opportunity to join the ship in St. Petersburg instead of Copenhagen and then disembark once the ship returns to St. Petersburg 10 days later.  I've read here on CC this practice is common in Europe.  It just seems strange to some of us in the US.  I think there is a term for it, but it escapes me.  Someone here will know.  I remember seeing these cruises in 2020.  We were booked on Sky Princess then. 

 

Certainly, the fact that it is not available is notable.  It does lead one to wonder if Princess (Carnival) at least anticipates issues in St. Petersburg.  Maybe that means Princess believes the port of call might not happen, with a plan to subsite it; but otherwise hopes to operate the Baltic Cruises.  Maybe it means something else. 

I also wonder if these cruises ARE available from an EU, UK, Russian or other webpage.
 

@niniThanks for the information. 

Edited February 3, 2022 by milolii

[tring]

7 hours ago, nini said:

There is a round trip from St. Petersburg and back in June. It says "currently not available". So, yo can not book it right now.

 

That does seem strange as presumably people would need Russian visa:s to embark/disembark, unless they are targeting Russian nationals, which seems even more strange.

 

Viking normally run river cruises from St Petersburg to Moscow and vice versa (which do need Russian visa's anyway), and I am aware there has been an option to link those with a cruise on a Viking Ocean ship, so pax can transfer directly from one cruise to another.  I am wondering if a Princess cruise may  have been scheduled to link with a Russian land tour, or perhaps river cruise on a non Viking boat, saleable as a package.  I had seen similar offered in China in the past.  We were at one stage thinking of booking that Chinese river cruise/land tour, followed by a Princess cruise from Beijing which went on to Alaska.  I would not see anything like that happening in Russia this year though, even if Baltic cruises call at SPB.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by tring

[tring]

5 hours ago, milolii said:

Ah, I think I understand. These cruises seem to be part of Princess' 11-day RTs out of Copenhagen, giving folks in Russia and others the opportunity to join the ship in St. Petersburg instead of Copenhagen and then disembark once the ship returns to St. Petersburg 10 days later.  I've read here on CC this practice is common in Europe.  It just seems strange to some of us in the US.  I think there is a term for it, but it escapes me.  Someone here will know.  I remember seeing these cruises in 2020.  We were booked on Sky Princess then. 

 

Certainly, the fact that it is not available is notable.  It does lead one to wonder if Princess (Carnival) at least anticipates issues in St. Petersburg.  Maybe that means Princess believes the port of call might not happen, with a plan to subsite it; but otherwise hopes to operate the Baltic Cruises.  Maybe it means something else. 

I also wonder if these cruises ARE available from an EU, UK, Russian or other webpage.
 

@niniThanks for the information. 

 

I had not seen the above post before my previous comment.  Some people may get a ferry from Helsinki or Tallin to join the ship in SPB.  If staying less than a certain time, (it is less than 2 or 3 days), they do not need visa's.

 

DH just been searching the Princess web page from the UK.  The June cruise is listed but not bookable.  There is also a late August cruise from SPB to Copenhagen listed, which appears to be bookable at present, but we did not try to enter the booking system.  I should think it would be quite feasible for non Russian pax to embark in SPB if they are on a holiday there anyway.  Again I could also see travel companies running packages which include a cruise and a tour.  We stayed in SPB before a river cruise and it was great not to be constrained by day trips and able to arrange our own sight seeing and other leisure there.  We also stayed in Moscow post cruise and strongly recommend that as well. TV

 

MSC and some other cruise lines do offer cruises from different embarkation ports. You may remember, the Costa Concordia was doing that sort of run before it went aground and sank.  I do not know if there is a particular term, but talking casually in the UK it is often referred to as "doing a bus run" - I am sure that will not be a term used by the cruise lines.  That sort of thing is not at all common in the UK, but it is in the Med.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by tring

[milolii]

@tringyes, I was thinking many of the same thoughts, land tour connections, cruisers from Helsinki(didn’t think about Tallin), and those spending time on their own in Russia before or after a cruise.  

Yes, the August option shows as bookable, though. Thanks for checking..interesting.

 

 

 

[nini]

USA has just issued a Warning Travel Advisory for Russia for its citizens. This has to do with Ukraine and not Covid.

[milolii]

@nini which agency issued this?  Do you have a link?  Is this different than the January 23 statement?   Please share.  

[sjhanksaz]

I would think that a couple of day trips to tourist sights with Russian travel agencies trying to earn a business would keep you safe.  I read the travel warning - seems like something I am no to worried about for now.

 

That conflict over there may get a lot worse or it could be just the media trying to get us all riled up again. 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html

 

[nini]

4 hours ago, milolii said:

@nini which agency issued this?  Do you have a link?  Is this different than the January 23 statement?   Please share.  

@sjhanksaz posted the link in Post #32. I am so upset that my crystal ball is out of order, or I would willingly share with all of you. With final payments becoming closer, it seems like such a crap shoot. However, if we purchased the Princess insurance, we would be "covered" to cancel up to the day before. BUT, ports can always change during the cruise too.

Edited February 4, 2022 by nini

[milolii]

Ah yes, thanks. This is the warning issued on January 23.  It is different than before January 23 in that it mentions the military build up and exercises along the Ukraine border and specifically discourages travel to those areas. 

 

The  other warnings aren’t new. 

 

@niniI  understand your concerns. If my final payment date

was close, and SPB was important, I would cancel.  We may do that, anyway.  Maybe wait/see and rebook later, closer to sail date. We have air that can be cancelled and rebooked later. 
 

 

 

 

[nini]

3 hours ago, milolii said:

Ah yes, thanks. This is the warning issued on January 23.  It is different than before January 23 in that it mentions the military build up and exercises along the Ukraine border and specifically discourages travel to those areas. 

 

The  other warnings aren’t new. 

 

@niniI  understand your concerns. If my final payment date

was close, and SPB was important, I would cancel.  We may do that, anyway.  Maybe wait/see and rebook later, closer to sail date. We have air that can be cancelled and rebooked later. 
 

 

 

 

That is really nice that you have air that you can cancel and rebook. We typically book air through the cruise line and it keeps getting more expensive as time passes.

[sjhanksaz]

I know my final payment is next month but I am with Royal and they will let you cancel up until right before the cruise.  I believe you just get cruise credit but I plan on cruising again someday so I am just going to wait and see what happens.  Worst case I just get to use the money to take another cruise.  I did my flights with them too and they are refundable so not too worried about my deadline next month.  We are only a couple of hundred away from it being payed off anyway.....

[galveston gal]

It’s definitely a roll of the dice 🎲.  I have till March 30 so hanging tight for now.

[sjhanksaz]

For those keeping track it looks like Sweden is now going to remove Covid restrictions.  

 

For us it looks like they are going to let the foreign visitor restrictions expire at the end of March!!!

[KKB]

OH boy...

Booked a heck of a deal on Enchanted Princess for Baltics the end of July.

Then Celebrity moved Infinity to Caribbean from Europe & we were just offered an incredible deal to book this.

I would RATHER sail Europe in a newer larger ship...have done the Caribbean many times.

But between COVID & Ukraine things are sure questionable...could certainly be in better shape by final payment....or not.

First world problems--WHICH cruise should I book?

[susancruzs]

I would do the Enchanted but I'm on Enchanted in Aug. for Baltic/TA!  Things are changing weekly as to requirements regarding Covid.  One issue is will the cruise be able to go to St. Petersburg?  I've been there before so that will not change my plans if they have to adjust their itineraries.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh boy this seems complicated right now!  Luckily our final payment for our July cruise is now not until May, so I have my fingers crossed that things will have simplified by then.  Had not thought about restrictions imposed after having been to Russia, gheesh!

 

(Let's hope that omicron gets renamed "omega".)

Edited February 12, 2022 by Wendy The Wanderer

[tring]

We needed to.lay our balance by next Wednesday for our late May cruise departure, so paid up yesterday.  Looking forward to the cruise even if SPB Is replaced by other ports, in fact I think at this stage we would prefer that it is changed, since the news is starting to sound scary.  

 

Perhaps we should just stop looking at the news......

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by tring

[jrmende63]

On 2/12/2022 at 6:18 PM, tring said:

We needed to.lay our balance by next Wednesday for our late May cruise departure, so paid up yesterday.  Looking forward to the cruise even if SPB Is replaced by other ports, in fact I think at this stage we would prefer that it is changed, since the news is starting to sound scary.  

 

Perhaps we should just stop looking at the news......

 

We have a Copenhagen Royal Caribbean May 1st departure to the Baltics. I am watching the news but still plan to go. If SPB is not a part of our itinerary, then we go another time to SPB. We will still go to the Baltics in May. IF for some reason the cruise is canceled, I do have a backup cruise to book. I am hoping we go as scheduled.

 

[sjhanksaz]

20 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

We have a Copenhagen Royal Caribbean May 1st departure to the Baltics. I am watching the news but still plan to go. If SPB is not a part of our itinerary, then we go another time to SPB. We will still go to the Baltics in May. IF for some reason the cruise is canceled, I do have a backup cruise to book. I am hoping we go as scheduled.

 

So I was talking with a guy from Ukraine who said that his family and his fellow countrymen didn’t seem to think anything bad was going to come from it.   He made it sound like there is a lot of hype about nothing.    We can only hope so

[gnome12]

Just remember that Ukraine is only part of the issue; Russia also has a major covid problem right now.

[Coral]

On 2/15/2022 at 7:15 PM, sjhanksaz said:

So I was talking with a guy from Ukraine who said that his family and his fellow countrymen didn’t seem to think anything bad was going to come from it.   He made it sound like there is a lot of hype about nothing.    We can only hope so

I have a coworker from Ukraine. He said his parents are acting like things are normal - people are going to work and school like normal. This was this weekend.

[MamaFej]

On 2/16/2022 at 7:25 PM, Coral said:

I have a coworker from Ukraine. He said his parents are acting like things are normal - people are going to work and school like normal. This was this weekend.

Are they in the west, or in the east? Reactions have seemed rather different from the different regions, though even folks in Kyiv seemed to be much more non-chalant a week ago than now. 

[Coral]

48 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

Are they in the west, or in the east? Reactions have seemed rather different from the different regions, though even folks in Kyiv seemed to be much more non-chalant a week ago than now. 

In Kyiv. I haven't seen this coworker this week. Hoping for peace!

[sjhanksaz]

20 hours ago, MamaFej said:

Are they in the west, or in the east? Reactions have seemed rather different from the different regions, though even folks in Kyiv seemed to be much more non-chalant a week ago than now. 

Not sure what part he was from.  I ran into him again and asked how his family was doing with it all.  He made the comment that they didn't really care about who ruled them.  Like they had been under Russia before and didn't seem much difference......   He was a student and I wish I would have had more time to ask more but I didn't have the time.

 

Also looks like Russia's covid has spiked and they are starting to head down in numbers

[Tom47]

Just a thought:  Cuba cruise sanctions were imposed in March 2019, w/o a grace period.  Ships at sea had to turn away from Cuba mid cruise.  These sanctions are still in effect.  DW and I did a Moscow to SPB river cruise in 2012.  We want to do a Baltic cruise, but w/o SPB.